“Do you know how much water you’re applying to your landscapes?”
That question, posed by Tom Ash, director of conservation alliances, HydroPoint Data Systems, while speaking to a roomful of industry professionals at New England Grows on Feb. 5 in Boston, is one all green industry professionals should consider.
“You should know how to use water – and that includes how much to use,” Ash outlined.
The reason?
Landscaping starts and ends with irrigation. In fact, the key to establishing and maintaining a luscious lawn lies in applying the right amount of water at the right time and at the right root depth – all the time, Ash asserts.
That’s why water woes of any kind can impact landscapes drastically. And since water-related issues of some sort currently plague every part of the country, lawn care professionals everywhere must pay special attention to their watering practices.
“Virtually every region of the country can expect water supply shortages, even in times of normal precipitation,” Ash said, quoting a 2002 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office.
When drought strikes, public agencies generally respond by imposing landscape irrigation restrictions and, sometimes, by banning landscape planting in general. While such bans may appear to remedy the trouble, Ash said they generally do not produce the desired results.
“They’re aiming at the wrong target,” he acknowledged, referring to irrigation restrictions in parts of Georgia and landscaping bans in New Mexico and North Carolina. “Seventy-five percent of water use in those areas was interior.”
But, still, landscape contractors can be more careful with the life-sustaining resource by creating smart irrigation plans for the properties they maintain – even when drought is not prevalent. “I think anywhere in the country we can save about 40 to 50 percent of the water we’re using in landscapes without a whole lot of effort,” noted.
Specifically, he urged contractors to consider the following questions when creating a smart irrigation plan:
1) What is the evapotranspiration in your area?
2) How much water do the plants need?
3) How much water should you apply to the landscape?
4) How reliable is the water supply in your area?
5) What are the regulations for controlling water quality in your area?
6) Why is water efficiency important for the green industry?
7) What can you, as green industry professionals, do to be water efficient?
When attempting to answer question No. 3 correctly, Ash recommended contactors use the following water budget equation:
(Evapotranspiration) (Plants’ Water Needs) (Irrigated Landscape Area) = Landscape Water Budget
For example, a Colorado property’s budget equation may look like this:
(30”) (.80) (1 acre) = 24 inches of water per year for 1 acre of Kentucky bluegrass – or 4 inches per month (during the growing season), or 1 inch per week during the growing season.
This water-efficient equation covers the full gamut of irrigation needs across the country and does not require pricey equipment for implementation.
However, irrigation components should be examined closely on a regular basis, especially on properties where scalded spots, sunken turf or flooding occur. In such cases, Ash suggests checking sprinkler heads regularly to ensure they are working correctly. A pre-season check can be particularly beneficial. “Now’s the time to fix and retrofit every irrigation system out there,” he noted.
Where “hot spots” appear in turf, Ash advised scouting for broken heads, crooked fixtures and clogged lines. Such problems can spell coverage problems, not an inadequate water supply.
One remedy Ash recommended for watering woes is the use of smart controllers. Such systems can verify water use on any type of landscape. And based on the water-wise data gathered, the system changes irrigation schedules as the weather changes – automatically. Thus, smart systems are a useful peak and drought management tool, Ash described.
Some states are considering legislation to require the use of smart controllers on every property, Ash said.
Overall, Ash encouraged lawn care professionals to embrace change when it comes to water efficiency and conservation. But conversion to new irrigation ideas must extend beyond implementation, Ash reminded.
“Measure your successes,” he urged. That means collecting and comparing irrigation runtimes, plant growth ratios and the related financial figures. Without evaluating the results – successful or otherwise – contractors cannot pinpoint the best plans for their properties.
The author is assistant editor-Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.